FANDOM FEATURE
PROTON ACCELERATING INTO THE
AFTERLIFE
Ghostbusters fandom explodes as the Neutrona Wand is passed to a new generation. by James Zahn, senior editor It’s been nearly 37 years since the Manhattan Crossrip sent the East Coast into a frenzy with ghost sightings galore and chaos on every corner. It was in 1984 that the Environmental Protection Agency’s Walter Peck forced a shutdown of the Ecto-Containment Unit tucked into the basement of a Tribeca firehouse, literally blowing the roof off of the place and setting off a chain reaction that signaled the coming of an ancient Sumerian God known as Gozer the Gozerian. The story of Ghostbusters is a famous one — a legendary tale that continues to inspire new generations of fans — but in-universe, has the Crossrip been forgotten? That’s a question that will be answered when Sony Pictures’ Ghostbusters: Afterlife finally makes its way into theaters everywhere this November.
DID YOU KNOW?
When Ghostbusters: Afterlife got pushed back, director Jason Reitman hosted a screening of the original Ghostbusters at the Sony Pictures drive-in on the historic Sony Pictures lot last summer.
Jason Reitman and the Ecto-1 Source: Eric Charbonneau/Columbia Pictures
It’s a little rusty, bu t the original Ecto1 rides again in Ghostbusters: Afterlife. | Sourc e: Columbia Pictur es
Following a few pandemic-fueled release date shifts, the film from Juno director Jason Reitman — son of Ghostbusters-helmer Ivan Reitman — will return audiences to the timeline of the original canon that was last explored in Ghostbusters II (1989), as a new generation straps on the Proton Packs for a supernatural adventure that pays tribute to the past while carrying the franchise into the future. Over the years, the Ghostbusters fandom has been fueled by storytelling across film, animation, comics, and games. Legions of fans have amassed impressive collections of toys and props. There are even highly organized regional fan groups that have the uniforms, the gear, and in many cases, elaborate life-sized replicas of the iconic 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor Ecto-1 vehicle. And many of these local paranormal investigators also drive original, Ecto-inspired creations that modernize the classic ride. So what is the biggest source of the appeal? “Ghostbusters is lightning in a bottle,” says Troy Benjamin, editor-in-chief of Ghostbusters HQ (GBHQ), a leading fansite that has been evolving since 1996. “It’s tough to pinpoint one single secret ingredient. Is it the characters? The gear? The timeless stories? Or is it the wish-fulfillment of everyday Joes and Janes being able to strap on a pack and trap some ghosts?” Benjamin’s fandom inspired a career that’s come full circle from a kid who once bought Ghostbusters on VHS from a Kmart store in Parker, Colorado, to working as an
on-camera host for Ivan Reitman’s production company Ghost Corps, to co-authoring Insight Editions’ 2017 Ghostbusters Ectomobile Owner’s Workshop Manual. “Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis, and Ivan Reitman’s creation crafted endless possibilities,” Benjamin says. “We’ll always be obsessed with things not of this world. Ghostbusters made the paranormal accessible. It also made it into a fictitious, aspirational profession that just happened to turn the protagonists into rock stars.” While the action on screen hooked viewers, the magic that happened behind the scenes is the secret sauce — or Ectoplasm — that’s really propelled Ghostbusters into being so much more than just a film. The UK-based, brother-and-sister team of director Anthony Bueno and producer
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